Generosity becomes the Saints

Decisive interventions from two of England's World Cup-winning team influenced the outcome of this game and perhaps the eventual shake-down of placings in Pool Four.

Wing Ben Cohen produced the sort of goods that he is employed to deliver in scoring a snaffler's second-half hat-trick of tries, while hooker Steve Thompson's evidence over a butting incident helped Jean-Jacques Crenca escape a potentially lengthy ban.

It was only a few days earlier, at England's victory parade in London, that Cohen had spoken about the need to get back to the day-job and repay the faith shown in him by the Northampton community. "Making Saints the best team in the land is one of my priorities," Cohen said.

They will have to show better form than this if that is to be the case. It took time for them to get the measure of the match after a stuttering first half. Northampton drifted and were unable to make any real advantage of the depleted Agen ranks.

Crenca, Agen's captain and the cornerstone of the French scrum, was sent off by Nigel Whitehouse, the Welsh referee, after only seven minutes for butting Thompson. It was not the cleverest thing to do, all the more so because there had been no real bust-up to trigger the incident.

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The bile had risen, the head was cocked and by the time the Frenchman had second thoughts, it was too late. The contact was minimal, which was pointed out by Thompson himself when choosing to defend Crenca.

Thompson's evidence was crucial and keeps alive Agen's hopes of still making something of this group. The minimum recommended sentence for Crenca's offence is seven weeks, the maximum nine months. The norm is five months.

Jeff Blackett, the Rugby Football Union disciplinary officer in charge of proceedings, heard the testimonies and took a justifiably lenient line in handing out only a four-week ban, which means that the prop will be available for the return fixture in Agen on the weekend of Jan 24-25.

"There are no excuses for what I did," a remorseful and relieved Crenca said. "I take full responsibility. There was no intention to do real bad. I am grateful to Steve Thompson, who spoke for me in saying that I only just touched his nose with my head."

Agen, who had a man sent off the previous week against Borders, were down to 13 men at one point when fly-half Franois Gelez was sent to the sin-bin just before half-time. Even so the French side went into the interval with a 7-6 lead, courtesy of a splendidly-crafted try from full-back Pepito Elhorga, who followed up a delicious catch and slither kick in one swift movement from wing Luc Lafforgue.

Northampton changed tack at half-time and worked on tiring and stretching depleted opponents by keeping ball in hand. It paid immediate dividends, Cohen stepping inside a couple of tackles for his first touchdown within three minutes of the restart.

There was more punch and drive to Northampton's play in the second half, though it was not until the closing stages that Agen finally cracked.

Cohen's second try 11 minutes from time came after an Agen scrum crumbled and the ball was shunted quickly out to Cohen's wing for a straightforward run-in. The final try was a high take from a Shane Dram kick that Cohen juggled with before dotting down.

Agen are a well-drilled, hard-nosed outfit. At full strength they will be a handful. Northampton, after defeat at Llanelli, were only too aware of the significance of this game. "Our European Cup would have been over if we'd lost," forwards coach Brendon Ratcliffe said.

Head coach Wayne Smith acknowledged that reintegrating England's four World Cup players takes time. "It's been an extended process," said Smith, who hopes to have scrum-half Matt Dawson, missing with a groin strain, available for the visit of Leicester on Saturday.